via John Cole, this is funny. YouTube clip is dead - try here.

The 911 caller who reported two men possibly breaking into the home of black Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. did not describe their race, acknowledged they might just be having a hard time with the door and said she saw two suitcases on the porch. . . . The officer who arrested Gates, Sgt. James Crowley, said in his police report that he talked to Whalen soon after he arrived at Gates' home. "She went on to tell me that she observed what appeared to be two black males with backpacks on the porch," Crowley, who's white, wrote in his report.

Whalen's attorney, Wendy Murphy, said her client never mentioned the men's race to Crowley and is upset by news reports she believes have unfairly depicted her as a racist.

Perhaps someone can ask Officer Crowley about that.

Speaking for me only

Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination for the Supreme Court will be approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee today. Only 1 Republican, Lindsay Graham, will vote in favor of confirmation. Republican senators Lugar, Snowe, Collins and Martinez have also announced their support for Sotomayor. I hope and predict there will be no other Republican votes for her. For two reasons - first, because it will firm up the new view that I have championed that the President is not due deference in his judicial appointments; and second, Latino support for Republicans will grow even smaller.

This is an Open Thread.

The tapes from Gates-gate are out (Transcripts here.) The 911 call makes Lucia Whalen, the person who called in, look good - she says she does not know what is going on. Does not mention "black men." In fact she said that they looked "kind of hispanic." The 911 dispatcher seems brusque.

The dispatch is pretty fuzzy too. Then Crowley seems to answer. Then a call in that "the gentleman says he resides here but it uncooperative." Then a call in to Harvard police. Then Gates is mentioned by name. Clearly he gave his name and identification to Crowley.

Then a call for "the wagon" to the location. This certainly is not helpful to Crowley's account. Update - for those who argue that Crowley's assertion in his police report that he spoke to Whalen at the scene may explain his reference to "two black men with backpacks" is belied by the fact that Whalen's attorney said "[Whalen n]ever once in any of her statements, conversations, and so forth did she ever use the word black. . . . But more importantly, when Sergeant Crowley got there, she didn’t have a conversation with him at all."

Speaking for me only

Comments closed.

The Bachelorette Finale starts here in 15 minutes. You can read my predictions and thoughts on the season over at PopLeft.

I've also got Weeds and Nurse Jackie set to record. I won't be checking in here until after the Bachelorette is over so I don't see a spoiler from the East Coast by mistake.

Thanks to everyone for putting up with my Monday night TV threads, this is probably the final one.

So what are you watching (or not) tonight and what did I miss by spending the day sitting in tiny visiting cubicles at the jail today? This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

. . . he's a pr*ck, says Tour de France champion Alberto Contador:

Away from the spotlight of the Tour de France and back in Spain, his home country, Alberto Contador took the chance Monday to say what he really felt about his Astana teammate Lance Armstrong. “My relationship with Lance is zero,” Contador said at a news conference, one day after winning his second Tour. “He is a great rider and has completed a great race but it is another thing on a personal level, where I have never had great admiration for him and I never will.”

Not the best translation, but more or less the gist. Here is the video.Update - Lance responds - "hey pistolero, there is no "i" in "team". what did i say in March? Lots to learn. . . . Seeing these comments from AC. If I were him I'd drop this drivel and start thanking his team. w/o them, he doesn't win." Heh. Lance has lots to learn. Pi**ing contests are not going to help him. Won't help Contador either but . . .

This is an Open Thread.

Late last month, former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman asked the judge who presided over his corruption trial to grant him a new trial on the ground that evidence of prosecutorial misconduct had recently been discovered by his co-defendant, Richard Scrushy. Siegelman's motion (pdf) alleges (among other facts) that federal prosecutors failed to disclose exculpatory evidence, including their extensive coaching of witnesses, and failed to correct false or misleading testimony during trial.

Justice Department paralegal Tamarah Grimes was a key source of the new information cited in Siegelman's motion. Grimes was fired after writing a lengthy letter to Attorney General Eric Holder outlining her observations of prosecutorial misconduct in Siegelman's case.

In recent days, attention has focused on allegations that the government induced the cooperation of a key witness, former Siegelman aide Nick Bailey, by making an implied threat to expose his alleged sexual relationship with Siegelman. [more ...]

Our morning thread is about to close (we close them automatically at 200 comments.) Here's another one until one of us gets done with work and has time to post. (BTD is in court and I'm dong jail visits. Maybe TChris will pop in, but he's a busy lawyer too.)

All topics welcome.

Busy day.

This is an Open Thread.

Update (TL): Same for me, I'll be at the jail visiting clients all day and then glued to the Bachelorette finale. Prediction: Jillian sends Kip home first, drama with Reid returning, Jillian gets engaged to Ed, and tomorrow night at the ATFR (After the Final Rose show they taped this past Friday) we will see they are still together, a whole two months later. Next bachelor: Get ready for Reid. Predictions only, no insider info. (And yes, I used to rush home from junior high to watch American Bandstand and see who was dancing with who. Paul and Michelle were my favorite. Old habits die hard.)

Again, open thread, all topics welcome.

The [warrantless surveillance] program was lawful . . . The reflexive judgments to the contrary seem hasty at best. There has been much controversy about the lawfulness of the program. Here I must point out that agency lawyers — career attorneys with deep expertise in the law, privacy and intelligence — assisted their professional Justice Department counterparts in their review of the program but remained comfortable throughout with the lawfulness of all aspects of the surveillance effort.- Michael Hayden

What amazes me about Michael Hayden, the former Bush Administration CIA and NSA Director, is not that he defends his and the Bush Administration actions. You would expect that. But that he does it so poorly does seem strange.

To cite the legal judgments of lawyers who approved torture - people like John Yoo, David Addington and John Rizzo, defies belief. But there you have it. I quoted from his Hayden's latest op-ed and it remains the same style of argument - trust my word. Now this argument worked to convince Joe Klein and the Media for years. A lot of us knew better. and have been proven right. But Hayden lives in a time warp, where nothing regarding the abuses of the Bush Administration lawyers has been revealed. A world where Joe Klein was proven a fool. We're past that now I hope.

Speaking for me only

I got caught up in other things tonight, and I promised those in the Palin thread I'd put up an open thread tonight, so here it is. Better late than never.

All topics (including sports for you sports fans) welcome.

I'm really surprised to hear my local news say they will bring us Sarah Palin's exit speech live. Why? Who cares? What does it have to do with Colorado?

She's leaving office with no announced plans to continue in politics. Why does this deserve live coverage?

Bye-bye Sarah. I won't be watching your speech.